Iosif Bleikhman | |
|---|---|
Іосіф Блейхман | |
| Born | 1868 (1868) |
| Died | 1921(1921-00-00) (aged 52–53) |
| Known for | Leadership in theJuly Days |
| Movement | Anarchist communism |
Iosif Solomonovich Bleikhman[a] (1868 – 1921) was aBelarusian Jewishanarchist communist revolutionary. He was the leader of the Petrograd Federation of Anarchist-Communists at the time of theRussian Revolution in 1917, organising a series of demonstrations against theRussian Provisional Government that culminated in theJuly Days. Following theOctober Revolution, he also began to agitate against the newBolshevik government, which resulted in him being arrested and sentenced to periods ofpenal labor a number of times. During one of these periods, he contractedtuberculosis, which he succumbed to shortly before theKronstadt rebellion of 1921.
In 1868, Bleikhman was born into apetty bourgeois family in the city ofVidzy, in theKovno Governorate of theRussian Empire (now Belarus).[1] Bleikhman began work as a tin-smith,[2] then as a shoemaker.[1]
By the turn of the 20th century, he had joined the revolutionary movement and moved to theUnited States,[3] where he became ananarchist communist. During theRussian Revolution of 1905, he moved to the Latvian city ofDaugavpils, where he was active in the local revolutionary movement. In September 1913, he moved toSaint Petersburg, where he joined the local anarchist communist group and agitated within various trade unions. In July 1914, he was arrested during astrike action and sent toSiberia,[1] but he managed to escape and lived clandestinely for a period.[3]
Following theFebruary Revolution, Bleikhman was released from his sentence and moved to Petrograd, where he quickly became leader of the local Anarchist-Communist Federation[4] and edited its newspaperBurevestnik.[2] In the pages ofBurevestnik, Bleikhman called for the broad-basedexpropriation ofprivate property, whether houses or factories, specifically calling onunhoused people tosquat privately owned residential buildings.[5] He also agitated among factory workers, who elected him to thePetrograd Soviet.[6] Another member of the Soviet, theGeorgian MenshevikIrakli Tsereteli, described him as a "comical figure" with an unarticulated understanding of anarchism.[7]
During theApril Crisis, Bleikhman organised mass demonstrations in which workers and soldiers called for theRussian Provisional Government to be overthrown andRussian participation in World War I brought to an end. The following month, he published a series of articles in which he called for an alliance offar-left groups with the goal of establishing anarchist communism, through thesocialisation of industry,expropriation of private land and the establishment of communes. In early June, he was delegated to a conference of Petrograd'sfactory committees,[3] following which he led anarchists in seizing the offices and printing press of theRusskaya Volya newspaper[1] and organised a mass demonstration that secured the release of anarchist and Bolshevik political prisoners fromKresty Prison. He later moved to the island ofKronstadt, where he became secretary of the local inkeepers' union, was elected to the Kronstadt Soviet and joined the Central Bureau of Trade Unions of Kronstadt.[3]
By July 1917, the workers, soldiers and sailors of Kronstadt were already beginning to move against the provisional government, in order to bring an end to Russian participation in World War I. In what was to become theJuly Days, leading anarchists of the Kronstadt Soviet gave speeches inAnchor Square, encouraging the island's garrison to rise up against the provisional government.[8] Bleikhman himself exhorted Kronstadt's 1st machine gun regiment to revolt against theRussian Provisional Government,[4] which he denounced for carrying out political repression againstRussian anarchists. While downplaying their lack of support from any political parties or the Petrograd Soviet, he also called on workers to seize control over their workplaces, finally dissolve the state and abolish the capitalist system.[7] Bleikhman was subsequently elected as chairman of the Provisional Revolutionary Committee, which brought together delegates from Petrograd's factory and military committees.[3]
Bleikhman then led the 1st machine gun regiment to Petrograd,[9] where they held armed demonstrations calling for thesoviets to seize power from the provisional government. But the Petrograd Soviet would ultimately refuse to endorse the uprising, which it considered premature. The insurrection was quickly repressed by the government, which arrested leading anarchists and Bolsheviks.[10] The Petrograd Federation would later claim the July Days as an anarchist uprising.[11] Bleikhman himself became afugitive, as he was wanted for arrest by the provisional government.[3]
Following theOctober Revolution, Bleikhman was elected to the Petrograd Military Revolutionary Committee and became secretary of the Petrograd Federation of Anarchist Groups,[1] once again taking up editingBurevestnik.[3] The newspaper began to call for the overthrow of the newly establishedCouncil of People's Commissars and its replacement with a libertarian commune, along the lines of theParis Commune of 1871.[12]
Bleikhman was soon delegated to the 5th and 6th conferences of Petrograd's factory committees, at which he criticised theSupreme Soviet of the National Economy, calling instead for all management of industry to be transferred to the factory committees. On 15 March 1918, he represented the Skorokhod factory committee at an extraordinary meeting of Petrograd factory commissars, where he criticised theMensheviks and once again called for the establishment of a workers' commune and the socialisation of industry. As he vocally opposed cooperation with representatives of thebourgeoisie and theintelligentsia, when the assembly decided to meet with the new authorities, he resigned from the organisation. On 30 March, he won over representatives to the Petrograd conference of theRed Army and was delegated by them to the 3rd Congress of the Baltic Fleet.[3]
Following the anarchist campaign against theTreaty of Brest-Litovsk, with theBlack Guards continuing to carry out underground militant activities, the Bolshevik government initiated a wave ofpolitical repression against the anarchist movement.[13] When a series of raids were carried out against theMoscow Federation of Anarchist Groups,Burevestnik compared theCheka to generals of theBlack Hundreds and denounced the ascounter-revolutionary.[14] The Cheka responded by raiding the Petrograd Federation, arresting Bleikhman, despite his membership in the Petrograd Soviet, and shutting downBurevestnik.[15] In November 1918, the Cheka sentenced Bleikhman topenal labor inVologda.[3]
In early 1919, he moved toMoscow, where he spoke at a series of non-party conferences inZamoskvorechye, where he criticised the rule of theRussian Communist Party.[3] Bleikhman, along withGerman Askarov and Vladimir Barmash, formed a delegation of anarchist communists that attempted to form aunited front with theanarcho-syndicalists. But little came of this venture aside from the brief publication ofTrud i Volia, which made appeals fordirect action against the Bolshevik government before being shut down by the authorities.[16]
In 1920, Bleikhman joined the Moscow trade union council[1] and attempted to establish a commune with a group of anarchists, but was unsuccessful.[3] In October 1920, he was arrested on charges of collaboration with theMakhnovshchina and once again sent to Vologda to work in logging, but he contractedtuberculosis and was grantedcompassionate release.[1]
In early 1921, Bleikhman died in Moscow,[17] having finally succombed to hisrespiratory disease.[18] Irakli Tsereteli would later assert in his memoirs that Bleikhman was shot by the Cheka, although this was denied by historianPaul Avrich.[19]
By March 1921, theKronstadt rebellion had broken out against the Bolshevik government, with revolutionaries once again holding meetings in Anchor Square, where Bleikhman had first roused them to revolt four years before.[20]
